History Repeats its self

The picture below was on display at Farewell to West Bar 2010 and
also featured in the slide show. It caught the eye of Geoff Turner
recently retired from the SYP Underwater Seach Unit and it went on
from there. Thanks Geoff - cheers - Bob Simpson.

After a little work on the photo it would appear that the title of the picture is a little erroneous and should probably read Sheffield Police at Hull Dockers Strike. In April of 1893 workers at Hull Docks went on strike over the use of non-union labour. The main company involved, being that of the Wilson Line. Strikers completely stopped work at the Docks and made an attempt to seize the steamer Montebello. A severe conflict ensued between Strikers and Police. Reinforcements were drafted in from Leeds, Nottingham, The Metropolitan Policeand the Sheffield City Police.The drafted officers were reported to be "very muchtougher in their methods than the local Police". Oddly enough, questions were asked in the House of Commons, by Labour Party Leader Kier Hardie, about the conduct of the Police at the dispute. I am beginning to think I have heard this somewhere before!  Dragoon Guards were also drafted along with a number of Gunboats, complete with Marines. The following is from the New York Times April 10th (archives of the New York Times are available on line, unlike the English papers) http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9800E7D71F3FEF33A25753C1A9629C94629ED7CF  The officers in the photo are most likely standing on the deck of the SS Hidalgo (part of the name on the lifeboats, checked against the Wilson Line Ships registry shows the most probable) this was a 1600 Ton Ship built in 1872 and Scrapped in 1907. It appears to be a Steam Sail Ship. So mutual aid has its roots planted very early in Police History. I enjoyed that little trawl through the archives. regards, geoff. P.S. It may have been the Sheffield Borough Police at that time